Search

Bayt al-Ḥikma (“the House of Wisdom”) was the palace library of the early ʿAbbāsid caliphs, mentioned in the sources only in connection with al-Rashīd (r. 170–193/786–809) and al-Maʾmūn (r. 196–218/812–833). The idea, developed in twentieth-century scholarship, that the Bayt al-Ḥikma was a bureau for the large-scale translation of Greek books into Arabic, operating along the lines of a modern research institute or even a university, is entirely incorrect. While we have little information about th…